


Crows and Bats

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Adoption, Bat Family, Children, Drama, Family Drama, Multi, Original Characters - Freeform, Some Fluff, Some Humor, Unknown children, criminals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:14:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7705468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We didn't have a family. None of us did. All ten of us barely even knew each other, and we'd only known of each other for a little less than a year when our lives changed forever. How could we go from pent up lab rats to people trying to live a normal life? The answer is, we really couldn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crows and Bats

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. For each thwack against my wall, I estimated about thirty seconds to have gone by. Without a clock, I couldn't be sure, that's just what I counted to before I threw the ball each time.   
The blue sphere would fly up into the air, smack against the ceiling, and then fall directly back into my hand. By my count, I had done this about two hundred and twenty seven times already today, though over the time since I developed this system I had probably done this tens of thousands of times.  
In addition to keeping track of time, somewhat at least, this warded off boredom for a little while. That is, until something interesting happened outside in the octagon.   
The one thing that throwing the ball didn't do was distract me from the glaring light in my room. All of the walls were white, along with the shelf of a bed that I slept on. Due to that, the light that shone in from above seemed to be magnified to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open for too long.  
Along with the dull colors of my room, it also had a smell that was present throughout the entirety of my home. It was a very strong smell, one that I would generally associate with bleach. It was so strong, in fact, that I could almost taste it whenever I stepped out of my room.   
Funny thing is, if someone was looking into the octagonal building that I inhabited, the inside part anyway, then they wouldn't see any doors on the rooms that were dotted around the structure. It looks like the people inside can come and go as we please.  
Bzz. Wrong. Instead of using heavy doors like some other places that I had lived in before, this facility opted to use glass doors that were almost invisible in the right light. Now, did I find this more or less cruel than the heavy doors? Not really. Did I try and run out of the room the first time that I woke up? I hate to admit it, but yes. I recall the knot on my head from that event didn't go away for about a week.   
On my balls three hundred and fifth trip back into my hand I heard the door to my room being slid open. I glanced back and saw one of the men wearing a white lab coat standing in the door, holding a clipboard and smiling at me.  
I gave him my best attempt at a hint of a smile, and greeted him as I sat up. He was one of the nicer Doctors in the facility, to me at least. I have no idea how he treated the other patients.   
I figured that he treated me better because we were about the same age, relatively anyway. While most of the Doctors in the facility were old dudes with white hair and sagging faces, Doctor Li was a young man with a cheery smile and young features.   
"Are you feeling alright today?" He asked as he entered into my room, leaning against the wall as he glanced over his clipboard.  
"Yeah, I mean, could be doing better obviously, but, y'know." Doctor Li nodded, his usual smile shifting into a somewhat sad one.  
"I know, I know. But hey, you get out of the room for a few hours in....." Doctor Li rolled up his sleeve to check his watch, but I already knew the time.  
"Approximately ninety minutes and twenty seconds." I asserted, having kept track in my head during our conversation.  
"Twenty one seconds, actually, but close enough." Doctor Li smiled, knowing of my time-keeping as a way of coping with the boredom. "I'm pretty sure it's you're turn in the gym today."  
"Who else?"  
"Uh, I'm pretty sure that it's Shane and Flynt, but I can check for you." I groaned.  
"Can't you put Shane in the gym by himself? He takes literally almost every plate in there sometimes."   
"Can you even use more than twenty pound Dumbbells?" Doctor Li joked, to which I shot him a slight glare.  
"I can lift more than your scrawny ass." At this, Doctor Li offered an over-exaggerated offended expression. After a moment of this, I couldn't help but crack a smile, one which he returned.  
"Well, I have to go check on some of the others. Do you need a new book or anything? I saw that some of the guards took your stack out yesterday." Assholes.  
"Yeah uh, if you could get me a classic I'd appreciate it. Jekyll and Hyde, if possible." After writing down my request Doctor Li nodded, waved, and walked out of the room.  
Now, I was somewhat excited for my time in the gym. Working out was one of the ways that I could just lose track of time, allowing me to escape from this place for awhile. However, that escapism was heavily dulled when Shane was in the gym. It was extremely hard to focus when you had someone deadlifting six hundred pounds and screaming like some kind of madman in the gym with you. Flynt, on the other hand, was more like me. While admittedly stronger, we had the same composure while in the small gym. We didn't scream, didn't lift obscene amounts of weight, I could tell that we were both just there to escape.   
Now, Flynt and Shane weren't the only people that I was ever around, there were actually about seven other patients that I knew of. Four girls and three other guys. While I haven't seen all of them in my fair share of months here, I had crossed paths with the aforementioned pair along with a boy named Zekediah, or Zeke, and a girl named Evangeline, or Eva. Unfortunately, none of us were able to discuss our last names. The Doctors seemed to have told us all that it could possibly cause fights. For what reason, I had no idea.  
What is my name, you may ask? Well, I am Jackson Quinn. I introduce myself as Jack, though. Jackson is a bit too formal for me. The only other person whose last name I knew was Evangeline, her last name was Nigma. I had a feeling that I had heard her name when I was little more than a child, but I couldn't know for sure. My memories were a bit hazy anytime before I was about fifteen years old.   
So, while I waited for my turn to go into the gym, I continued my ritual of bouncing the ball off of the ceiling, until I got bored enough to start throwing it around aimlessly. Off the walls, off the door, bounced between corners, I even started throwing it as hard as I could, sending that little blue sphere careening off the walls, back and forth until it slowed enough that it stopped or I could catch it.  
I did this for awhile, until, suddenly, there was an extremely loud crash. When this happened I turned to face my door, and saw a tall, dark figure standing in what had previously been my door. Two pointed ears poked from the intruder's head, and Jesus Christ was he intimidating. So, what was my first course of action? Joke with him, of course.  
"Heh, hey Buddy, I thought visitor hours ended awhile ago." Instead of laughing, or even acknowledging my comment, the guy stalked toward me.  
"Uh, hey, stand back man. I uh...have a ball." I held the sphere up, somehow trying to make the handball seem intimidating. At this point, I was really just trying not to absolutely lose my shit.   
When the guy continued to advance I slung the ball at him and tried to run by, but the man grabbed me and clamped his hand over my mouth and nose, his opposite forearm cutting off my airway.   
As I faded into darkness, I wondered who the hell this guy was, and why he wanted to kill me


End file.
